Gas-burning heater



Dec. 14,1926. I 1,610,229

' H. A. ATWATER GAS BURNING HEATER Filed Feb. is. 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 s I I iy l z z 20 v 2/ m' 'n'" v Dec. 14, 1926.. 1,610,229

H. A. ATWATER GAS BURNING HEATER Filed Feb. 18, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 "WE "T Patented Dec. 14,1926, n j I i in V HARRY A. ATWA'IER, ,or KANSAS. oiTY, rii'issou eI.v

,GAs-Bunnme HEATER. I Application filed masis, 1924; Serial No. seams,

I The present invention relates .to heating box or combustion chamber is entirely sur apparatus, with particular relation to heatrounded by heat-absorbingjsurfaces, the most i'ng' appliances'using gaseous fuel, and aims 'eflicient method of transmitting th'e'heat of to provide a novel construction for enabling combustion is, obviously, by means of radia '5 a new and efficient method to be employedtion, as theloon'ditions are not of a character j for feeding the gas and airinto the fire favorable for effective transmission of heatchamber for the purpose of preheating thev by either, conduction or convection. The

air and so controlling the mixture of the usual type of gas burner utilizes the familiar" gaseous fuel with the preheated air as to efprinciple of the Bunsen burner: with its 6o V i 10 feet certain chemical changes of a nature short,'pale blue, transparent and non-lumi-- adapted to produce a more efiicient transmis-. nous flame. This character of flame is a' sion' ofheat by means of radiation. 7 .Very poor radiator, having a small flame Accordingly the present invention resides body,'an'd-beingbest adapted for transmitas suitable provision for carrying out the contact with the tip of thefiame. "The rai same in practice, the principal features of; diating power ofa flame depends upon its the same consisting in} the preheating of the ft'emperature and the density of the ga's,and' air whereby the combustion issuppprted, and. the presence in the flame of solid particlesfeeding the gas intovv the combustionchamr suchas Carbon. In "the" Bunsen type of an be]? Without being previously mixedwith air, burner, the flame is cooled at the outset by methods. j

and so regulating the flow of gas and-prean admixture of air in the; gas tube. More- 1 v heated air as to break down the gaseous over, the mixture of the air'witlitlie gas is fuel into component products having greater so intimate that it "burns readily and very heat radiating properties, the combustionof rapidly. a v a w l 25 which will thereafter produce the principal The present invention takes advantage of heating action developed'by the furnace orthe fact that, while gases in general possess I heater and witha far greater intensive'ef-. poor heat-radiating.properties, illuminating fect than that produced by thefburningof and natural gases, may because'd to burn the original gaseous fuel by ordinary with a flame body that is opaque or nonr n V transparent and impregnated to acertain ex- With this general object in view, the intent with' carbon, so' 'as to produce afiame V vention will now be described by reference having high heat-radiating properties;

to the'accompanying drawingsillustrating While he chemistryfof combustion oflhyone form of construction'which I have'dedrocarbonslis not at all thoroughly undervised for embodying the proposed improve stood,the,propertiesfof the constituent gases,

ment and practicing the new method,'after present in the usual commercial product,

which those: features ,deemedto benovel will and the commonest reactions taking place a be particularlyset forth and; claimed. on preheatingand':inithe usual -process of a In the drawings-e I t 4 Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional View results well enough understood for the pure illustrating a portion of a hot air furnace poses'of the present-invention. Someof supplied with a heater construction embodythese hydrocarbons, such as 'methane. and lin'gthe preseut'invention; v ethane, burn: with non-luminous flames and Figure 2 is atransverse section, taken on are comparatively poor radiators of heat, 4r the line II of'Figure 1; Other hydrocarbons, particularly acetylene in an improved combustion method,as well ting heat over a small area at the point of'f7 combustion, are sufliciently'familiar and the Figures 3 and 4 aretop andbottom perand benzene, burn with highlyv luminous g spective views, respectively, illustrating the flames, having comparatively very high 'ra air preheating device, forming apart of the "diatin'g properties. It is "also 'iOllIlCl that invention;

Figure 5 1s a perspectiveviewlillustrating substantial famount-s all the commercial va blockmember used forhousing the nozzle forms of illuminating ,andqnatural gases, employed for feeding the gaseous fuel into whenexposedto the action of sufficient heat, the combustion chamber; and i are readily converted into, acetylene and hy- Figure 6 is a perspective looking the drogen; and also, 'thatJmethjan'e, Which-is f t nd oft-he preheater member. the predominant c'onstitu'ent of most com- .Inthose typesof heaters,where the fire' inercial 'gases, and,fin turn acetylene, tend] methane and ethylene, which are present in short of the .end flange 15..

' the ,ash ,pit door,

chamber;

to whenheated to a given and; perature, and one of the prnnary products of this polymerizing action isbenzene, a hydrocarbon of much greater densityandone having even higher radiating properties than acetylene. NOW, if the temperature as still further increased, some of these constituent gases Will become dissociated; for example, acetylene, being an endothermic compound, will readily dissociate into carbon andhydrogen, and this free carbon obvious' 1y Will still further increase the luminosity andthe heat radiating power of the flame, Since the ignition temperature of methane, the predominating hydroca'.rbon constituent of; the usual commercial gas, is below its polymerizing-and dissociating temperatures,

itis apparent that when such gas is burned rapidlyjvith a complete airinixture ,asvin he Qr ina y g burn r, thes v i u y.-

drocarbon constituents such asmethane, eth= 'ylene, etc, Will simplyburn as methane, eth- 'y ene, e SP Qti 1Y '-W 0. l l reactions ofthe type above referred to. The

'' ofthe gaseous type offuel, asregards in-,

creased radiating properties, I havedevised a heater construction such as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, In these drawings Ifillustrate the apparatus as embodied alfu rnace of the hotair type, in which the'usual coal, grates are removed from the fire pot or combustion chamber 10 and after also removing the ash pit. door, I also insert Within'the ash pit 11 an air preheaterdevice, in the position illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 Referring to Figures 3, i and 6, this pr -f heater device comprises metallic casing 12, having'side flanges 14 and also an end flange 15 atwhat may be termed the inner, end of the casing, in addition towhich the interior of the casing is also provided, with a set of vertical partition members 16 terminating H These flanges and the two. out-er partition members 16 are designed torestupon the floor. 17.0fthe ash pit 11,5 clearly illustrated inFigure 2. At I the preheaterf is; provided with a face p1 te119 formed, with anopening 20for the'mountin'g of the'fuel burner nozzle 21, which may be'ofany desired type for'the burning of gaseous fuel, so long as the same operates tofeed the gas to the combustion chamber 1'0 Withoutany. admixtureof air with theffuel prior to itsidi'schairge into said which acts asa further 30, of the form best illustratedin Figureb,

is mountedv upon the front end ofth'e'preheater member, for enclosing they. nozzle member 21, this block being provided With an opening or recess, 31 for registry with the opening. v through nihich the preheated air is admitted to th-eburiier space. A fi'a' fspace isprovided forthe discharge of the gas and preheated air from the arch block 30, by means of the diverging side alls 32 of the housing space, Within said block. The upper face, ofnthefpreheater' member 12 is also preferably "formed With suitable ribs 34 in front of andat the sides of the air inlet opening 25, for fitting cor: respondingly located recesses 35 in the bottom face of the block 30,1thereby'insuring the proper positioning of this block and the retaining of the same in its proper relation to the nozzle 21. I

1 The remainder of the top face of the preheatermember 12 is also'pr'e'ferably covered" with suitable refractory material, such as split tiling, which is designed to be just thick enough to protect the metallicvsubstance of a preheater from any damagedue to the heat of the combustion chamber, and yet not so thick as to prevent an e'fiicieiit fiow of heat therethrough to the air preheating passages 23 and 24. A further .func-. tion of this refractory door thus provided by this tiling 36 is that of reflecting some of the heat from its surface back into the body of the flamein the chamber 10.

It is also proposed to setblo'cks 37 of tiling on end around the sides and rear of the refractory fiooring formed by the tiling 36, with the upper ends of the blocks 37 arranged in the space left by the removal of the grates,as clearly illustrated in Figures 1 and 2.1 It is alsopreferred to form a bed of sand 38 around the d between it and the sides of the ash pit 1 1, insulation against loss of heat, and also'serves to brace and support the'preheater me tion illustrated.

I I In the operation of the liea'ter,gas be admitted through the'n'ozzle, 21, this gas be 1?:

ing di'scharg'e'cl'from the nozzle in a pure. or undiluted,condition, no air having been mixed with the gas prior to its admission te the combllstion chamber. Al Of. the air reheating passages, including the blessin s inber in the posipreheater member, or

22 and the opening 25 into the burner cham- V her, are so proportioned as to admit the ,proper amount of air. In its passage rounded by a film or coating of through the preheating passages 23 and 24,

this air undergoes a marked increase in tem-- perature, on account-of thehighly heated condition of'the floor of' the combustion chamber, and, onentering the burner chamber, surrounds the gas issuing from the nozzle 21, Ignition of the gas takes place at-the tip of the burner, but combustion;

proceedsonly on the outside of the body of the gas where the gas comes in contact with the air; As this body of gas, surflame, travels over the refractory floor and through the-combustion chamber, the heat imparted to the gas body from the preheated air and by reflection from the floor of the combus 'tion chamber, causes the various chemical reactions above referredto, to take place;

that is to say, by causing the flow of gas to 7 take placc in a steadily vi'noving stream of comparatively low velocity as well as of. rather substantial depthor cross-section, any

eddying'or turbulent action is prevented and combustion is carried out relatively slowly as compared with the usual high velocity' feeding action which breaks up the gas with a view to intimately'mixing it with air as rapidly as possible. Hence, in my process,

the combustion is initiated on the exterior of the gas stream, and the heat produced by this combustion of the gas on the exterior of the gas stream as well as the heat re- ,flected and radiated from the-floor of the products brings about combustion conditions" aifording vastly greater radiating powers' than can be secured by the immediatev com bustion of theconstituents ofthe original fuel if burned at. once without. any interimmediate reaction. By proper design and regulation, these reactions may be so controlled as to produceand maintain a full long flame body within the combustion in which these polymeric. hydro-" chamber,

' carbons, of intense radiant activity, are

burning, as well as to secure the presence of an abundance of free carbon, thereby'adding further to the heat radiating activity of the flame. The result is the complete and most efficient utilization of the heating surface of the fire pot which is exposed to this radiate-d heat, as well as a maintenance of the most eflicient condition under which fuel of this character may be burned.

It will therefore be apparent that I have signature.

devised a practical and eflicient method and apparatus for carrying out the proposed objects of the invention, and while I have illus-v trated what now appears to constitute the c vpreferred form of embodiment, as well as method of practicing the invention, I desire to reserve the right to make all such changes or modifications'as may fairly fall within the scope ofthe appended claims. 7 What I claim is:

1. The process of producing combustion of hydrocarbon gas in a heater which consists in conductingheated air into the combustion chamber of the heater, feeding the pure gas, unmixed with air and in a steady unturbulent stream of comparatively low velocity and substantial cross-section, into the heated air zone withinv said chamber, and thereby'igniting and burning the gas at the exterior of said stream and by theheat thus generated breaking downthe gas the interior of the stream into its components and producing the principal heating action by'the combustion of saidcomponents. 2. The process of producing combustion of hydrocarbon gas in a heater which .con-

sists in conducting heated air into the combustion chamber of the heater, feeding the a pure gas, unmixed with air, in a steady unturbulent stream of comparatively low velocity and of substantial depth-and in sheet form spreading out over the floor of the V chamber, and thereby igniting and burning the gas at the exterior of the stream and by the heat thus generated and also reflected from said fioor breaking down the gas at the interior] of the stream into its com-' ponents and producing the principal h-eatponents; r V 3;. The process of producing combustion of a hydrocarbon gaswithin aheater which ing; action by the combustion of said com consists in heating air for supporting the a combustion by conducting it past exterior.

surfaces of the heater 'maintai'ned hot by heat transmitted from the combustion chamber'of theheater, conducting said air into] the combustion chamber of the heater, feeding the pure hydrocarbon gas, unmixed with air, in a steady unturbulent stream of com- 'paratively low velocity and of substantial.

depth and in sheet form spreading out over theinterior surfaces of said chamber, and

' thereby igniting and burning said" gas first at the exterior of the gas stream and by the heat thus generated and also reflected and radiated from said interior surfaces of the I chamber breaking down the gas atthe interior of the stream into its components and producing the principal heating action b the combustion of said components. 7

' In witness where of I hereunto afix my HARRY A. arwarna. 7 

